Knight Letter No. 4

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THE LEWIS CARROLL SOCIETY »% >iEl\f)^Bl OF NORTH AMERICA

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Number^ February 1976

D Society Publishes Annual Carroll Bibliography

The Society's chapbook series was inaugurated recently with the publication of Edward Guiliano'sLea;/s
Carroll: An Annotated Bibliography for 1974. The previously announced series was approved by the
membership at the Society's fall meeting with the new understanding that the chapbooks would be high-
quality, primarily single-title volumes. Chapbooks are free to members. Although no publication date
has been set, the second volume in the series is currently in production.

Mr. Guiliano's bibliography is hopefully the first of a series of annual bibliographies that the Lewis Carroll
Society of North America will continue to publish. The surprisingly large bibliography for 1974 demon-
strates formally the keen interest that exists in Lewis Carroll. The bibliography contains listings and
annotations of scholarly publications, editions, and some ephemeral material. The items are divided into
four sections — (A) Primary Works, (B) Reference and Bibliographical Works and Exhibitions, (C) Biography
and Criticism, and (D) Miscellaneous - Including Dramatic and Pictorial Adaptations. There is also an
introduction and an index.

n An Unrecorded Early American Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The Lewis Carroll Handbook records three different editions of Alice's Adventures published by Lee and
Shepard of Boston (note that Shapard does only have one 'p' — the Handbook and several other sources
persistently give it two).

As the 'Appleton Alice' was printed in England, the Lee and Shepard editions are of significance as being
the earliest editions of Alice printed and published in America. The first was 1869, and is generally styled
the 2nd American edition, and 1st American printing. Copies are known in both green and orange cloth,
with all edges gilt. R. D. Hilton Smith in his^//ce 100 catalogue (Adelphi Bookshop Ltd. 1966) goes on
to style the next printing, in 1870, as 3rd American edition, and the 1871 printing as the 4th American
edition. He then describes the 1877 New York Macmillan edition as the 5th American edition.

I have recently acquired, however, a previously unrecorded Lee and Shepard edition, dated 1872. It is in
rough green cloth*, all edges plain, brown end papers. The title page has the New York, Lee, Shepard and
Dillingham added below the Boston, Lee and Shepard imprint, first added in the 1871 printing. Perhaps this
1872 printing should be called the 5th American edition; but I think it more rightly should be styled 4th
impression (assuming the 1870 and 1871 copies are the 2nd and 3rd impressions) of the first edition of 1869,
since there is no reason to suspect that the type was set up afresh each time.

There is no doubt, however, that the Lee and Shepard version is a quite separate production from the
Appleton Alice. The text and pictures are taken directly from it, but the book has been reset afresh using
a new type face. Nevertheless, the typesetter has closely followed the line and page arrangement of the
Appleton Alice. The only verbal changes I have been able to find are the Americanizations of 'honour'
and 'neighbour' to 'honor' and 'neighbor.'

All the points noted inJabberwocky Winter 1973 follow the 1865 text, except for two commas inserted,
'ou' with the accent, single to double inverted commas in the dedicatory poem, and Fender ./Fender,
(p. 16 1.16) relief , /relief. (143.10). *Editor's Note-It was also issued in dark blue cloth. S.H.G.

n More Publications: Lewis Carroll Observed and Reobserved

Production of the Society-affiliated collection of new essays— the title now finalized as Lewis Carroll
Observed— is moving along smoothly, albeit a shade behind schedule. Barring unforeseen problems, the
book will be available to Society members in June. The publisher, Clarkson N. Potter, has set August 31,
1976 as the official publication date, so as to capitalize on fall opportunities for publicity and holiday
sales.

Recently published by Potter was the American edition of Ralph Stearfman's The Hunting of the Snark
($4.95, paperback), and soon to be published is the American edition of John Fisher's The Alice in
Wonderland Cookbook ($6.95). (Copies may be ordered by mail from Crown Publishers, Inc., 419 Park
Avenue South, New York, NY 10016— prepaid.) Later this year we should have a much revised hardbound
edition of Martin Gardner's The Hunting of the Snark to help mark the Snark 's centennial. The publisher
is William Kaufmann in Los Angeles. The publication date for Lewis Carroll: Fragments of a Looking-
Glass, a translation of Jean Gattegno's 1974 biography, has been reset by the publisher, Thomas Y. Crowell,
to spring. This past fall, Crowell published an attractive, hardbound edition of Alice with color illustrations.

EDWARD BAWDEN'S OXFORD MURAL

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Christmas greetings from Blackwell's - Oxford was a card featuring the mural in their shop. Here
is their description of it:

The wall above the staircase in Blackwell's leading down to the Norrington Room, with its 170,000
volumes on 2^2 miles of shelving, seemed to call for apt decoration. This was furnished by Edward
Bawden in a series of five panels recalling significant periods in Oxford's history. The XlXth century
is represented by The Natural History Museum, with Ruskin, and Keble College, founded in 1870 and
welcomed at the inaugural feast by an eminent Cantab "as an integral part of the whole of Oxford -
and what a hole it is."

The illustration of Carroll shows him as a photographer taking a picture of the White Rabbit.

n LEWIS DREAMCHILD

On the evening of November 8, 1975, we journeyed from Maryland into Virginia to the Cedar Knolls Dinner
Theater on the Potomac River. The location was less than a mile from George Washington's Mount Vernon.
There we saw a most novel and original musical entitled Lewis Dreamchild. The play was billed as "Alice's
musical journey through Wonderland in 1975 in search of the real Lewis Carroll."

It was written and directed by Leslie Jacobson, a member of the staff of George Washington University.
The very tuneful and modern music was composed by Jonathan Firstenberg, a local violist and guitarist,
while the lyrics were written by an attractive Judy Daley, who also had several parts in the production. A
few of the songs, including "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky" used Carroll's own words. Spirited choreography
was by a local girl named Mimi Meyer. The cast consisted of Miss Daley and five others.

The play brought out all of the Strang modern analyses of Lewis Carroll. Miss Daley told us that Aspects of
Alice had been a major source book. The fourteen characters included Alice, Lewis Carroll, and such
individuals as Dora Mouse and Marsha Hare. Wonderland is populated by psychiatrists, sex therapists and
other contemporary creatures who accuse Lewis Carroll of basing the Alice stories on drugs, religion and sex.
And all this set to music! Finally things reach such a hectic state that the characters put Lewis Carroll on
trial. Alice comes to his defense and wins the day by convincing everyone that works of art must stand on
their own merits.

We found the production fascinating, though offbeat. Certainly Lewis Carroll and his works are becoming
of more ^nd more interest to a large segment of Americans. This production at a lovely dinner theater in
Virginia clearly bespeaks of this phenomenon. D H S

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THE JERUSALEM POST MAGAZINE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1975

D LONDON— The club that for 165 years played host to the elite officers of the Queen's Household
Cavalry has gone down to defeat under an autioneer's hammer.

The silver, chandeliers, carpets, linens and gaming tables of the exclusive Guards Club in Mayfair, which
counted Napoleon's conqueror, the Duke of WeUington, among its members, were auctioned off
Wednesday.

Algernon Asprey, a former Guards captain, club chairman and member of the Asprey Jewelers family,
bought a 19th-century clock used as a model by artist Sir John Tenniel for illustrations in the first edition
of Lewis Carroll's "Alice Through the Looking Glass."

From The Washington Post, Friday, Jan. 16, 1976

Of Further Interest ...

D The Soldier Factory, P.O. Box 1658, Cambria, California 98428, is offering ten pewter-finished
figures of an "Alice in Wonderland Series," along with an Alice chess set in pewter and bronze finish.
A catalog is available on request.

D Myrddin, a magazine devoted to fantasy and speculative fiction, has recently published its second
issue, which contains an article on the relationship between Lewis Carroll and George MacDonald.
Kenneth Hoglund, Associate Editor of the magazine, states that Carroll lies within the spectrum of
fantasy, and that they expect to offer other articles about him. The address is 3952 West Dundee Road,
Northbrook, Illinois 60062.

D A recently-acquired bound volume of The Bookman, March-August, 1899 contained Carrolliana
not noted in the Handbook. A short article, i4//ce in Wonderland on the stage, gives a brief history of
Alice stage productions, along with a series of photographs of the London Opera Comique production.
Immediately following is a review of Collingwood's biography, with several illustrations from the book.
The article is signed J. M.

On page 16 is an illustration of Alice played by children in Bedford Park, London.

D In September 1976, the Folio Society will bring out an edition of The Hunting of the Snark, with
eleven line and wash lithographs by Quentin Blake. Bound in cloth and issued in a slip-case, it will be
offered to Society members for $10.25.

The Knight Letter is the official newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America and is distributed free to all
members. The newsletter is edited by Stan Marx in cooperation with the Society's Editorial Board. Subscriptions,
business correspondence, and inquiries about membership in the Society ($10 annually) should be addressed to: The
Secretary, The Lewis Carroll Society of North America, 617 Rockford Road, Silver Spring, MD 20902. Submissions
and editorial correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, The Knight Letter, 15 Sinclair Martin Drive, Roslyn,
NY 11576.